“My inclination towards visual storytelling began when I realised reading novels and books was not my forte,” he says.

By high school, Abhimanyu was practising as a freelance graphic designer while learning the ropes of Adobe to create designs.

“It was then, I made up my mind to study the discipline of animation and interactive storytelling, and to be a part of the future of change in media design.”

During his school years, Abhimanyu started to experiment with virtual and augmented reality, which was a turning point for him.

“I have always dreamt of unleashing the actual powers of virtual and augmented realities by using its full potential, not just as a form of entertainment, but by blending it into the education sector to enhance learning experiences and bring about a change in society.”

Now he is one of five students to have won a University New South Wales Future of Change Scholarship, a grant established to attract high-achieving students from India to undertake studies at UNSW.

He says having the opportunity to study at UNSW Art & Design and live in Australia is a dream come true.

“Studying in such a renowned and highly ranked university is itself a matter of pride for me. The opportunity will provide me with all the advanced skills, knowledge and design capabilities to pursue a variety of professional pathways.

“I want to graduate with as many skill sets as possible during my studies, stay persistent, and be curious for these three years.”

Abhimanyu Gupta says his degree is “tailor-made”, providing skill sets across a range of key areas within contemporary creative media and the core foundations of animation, sound, interactive and emerging media technologies.

“The Bachelor of Media Arts encompasses everything I ever wanted to learn and explore. I’m really excited to learn visual effects and interactive media, particularly augmented and virtual reality and motion capture.”

After UNSW,Gupta is looking to gain a variety of work experience and aspires to a career in directing animation or visual effects for the likes of Pixar, DreamWorks and Sony Pictures.

He envisions the future of virtual and augmented realities as transforming education across the globe.

“I wish to bring in a revolution with my field of work, boost learning capacity and bring out the highest potential in every student in all fields of discipline throughout the world, and especially my country, India.”

For students from India, UNSW has launched the ‘Future of Change’ awards. The award, for meritorious Under Graduate and Post Graduate students ranges from one full year of tuition fee scholarship, AUD 10,000 per annum tuition fees scholarships and tuition fee awards of AUD 5,000.

Amit Dasgupta, India Country Director, UNSW Sydney, said: “UNSW Sydney possesses a unique expertise in science, social sciences, engineering, built environment and medicine, professional fields like law and business, and more creative subject areas like performing arts, spatial design, and humanities. UNSW prepares future-ready students, arming them with the academics and skills they need to excel globally, while discovering new ways of learning.”